Flames and Ash
by UnluckyAmulet
Summary: Ron Weasley on chocolate frogs, Hogwarts and what it's like living outside of the spotlight. Another in the Twenty Truths series.


Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns, blah blah blah.

It's been a while since I've done a Twenty Truths...it WAS going to be about Lupin, but then I read a Ron fic and so it changed into his. XD Dedicated to my buddy Lucas. Hope you like!

Enjoy!

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1. It's not much to boast about, but Ron likes being the tallest of the group.

2. It's very embarrassing being terrified of spiders; Hermione doesn't like them either, but it's always _her_who carefully deposits them out of the nearest window while Ron does his best not to scream like a little girl.

3. When they're out, alone and hungry and doing everything they can do avoid the Death Eaters, Ron suddenly finds himself missing corned beef sandwiches. It's always the little things.

4. Years later, he does regret the way he treated Lavender Brown, but he knows that it pales into insignificance after the Battle of Hogwarts...

5. When Ron sits on top of his stone knight and watches the Queen moving towards him, he finds himself surprised to note that he is much more afraid of losing the game than he is of dying.

6. Ron wasn't sure why Luna Love good always seemed to find him so hilarious, but he had to admit that it was flattering all the same.

7. Thanks to Divination, the smell of incense always makes him feel sleepy. By contrast, whenever he sees a tabby cat he suddenly feels like he's being scrutinized.

8. Sometimes, he wonders if his dad's old Ford Anglia is still in the Forbidden Forest. For some reason, the idea has some appeal to him, like a part of his adventures at Hogwarts is still physically alive somewhere, maybe even rescuing hapless students from their own misadventures along the way.

9. It's never been easy being the youngest out of five brothers, and with a little sister, but with most of them crowded around his bed in the hospital wing, he thinks that he wouldn't want to be in a world without his family.

10. Ron hates being poor. He knows that the other students sneer at his second-hand robes, dog-eared spell books and tattered equipment. But when he sees that wistful, achingly sad expression in Harry's eyes when Ron opens another letter from his parents, he knows Harry would happily trade all his wealth to be in Ron's place. He hates himself for it.

11. He has never been very good at apologizing, and when one of your best friend's is the smartest witch in your year, it's even harder. But Ron can admit, even if only to himself, that sometimes he deserves the "I told you so." that follows.

12. He has tried, more than once, to change his fiery-red locks to black, but the freckles, pale skin and other telltale signs give him away and eventually he stops doing it. Ron knows he's not fooling anyone.

13. Ron does a better job at handling terrible cooking than most people. Really, anything tastes good after puking up slugs.

14. Knowing that his brothers enjoy mocking him at every available opportunity, Ron is pleasantly surprised when Hogsmeade is everything that he'd ever hoped it to be. Even with one of his friends under an invisibility cloak and the other one talking nonstop.

15. Watching Harry almost getting burnt to a crisp by the Horntail's fiery breath for roughly the fourth time causes Hermione to make a small, animalistic whine in the back of her throat and guilt hits Ron in the stomach like a boot. If Harry didn't live through this, Ron knew that he would never forgive himself. And he would never let anybody else forgive him either.

16. Surprisingly enough, he still has his autograph from Viktor Krum. Ron supposes Krum was never really a bad sort...but he has never once felt guilty about breaking the figurine into little pieces.

17. He can't decide which is harder to watch: People snogging his little sister or people snogging Hermione. All he knows is he'll kill anybody who messes with them.

18. His daughter's first words are, "Bloody hell!" He can't tell people that story without bursting out laughing.

19. Chocolate Frogs will always have a special place in Ron's heart. Getting his own card was an unexpected bonus, but it's the memory of eating them with Harry that he really treasures above all else.

20. When Ron looks back on his life, where he has always worried about being in somebody else's shadow, he realizes that not everyone who feels that way gets to experience quite as much as he has. And when he thinks about that, he doesn't feel like anybody's sidekick.

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Thank you for reading!


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